The U.S. News & World Report ranked Geneseo as the most efficient university in the north based on the combination of relatively low allocation of financial resources per student and its educational quality.

According to the U.S. News & World Report, “In these times of tight or reduced state budgets, it's important for some colleges to efficiently spend their limited resources in order to produce the highest possible educational quality.”

Geneseo's first-place ranking was calculated based on operating efficiency, or the 2011 fiscal year financial resources per student divided by its 10th place score in the northern region on the 2013 best college rankings.

“I think when people think of efficiency, they think of time saving and money saving, but I think that Geneseo's efficiency stems from something else,” Vice President for Student and Campus Life Robert Bonfiglio said. “This is the most mission-focused place I have ever been.”

According to Bonfiglio, Geneseo's mission is to provide an “excellent first-rate liberal arts education at an affordable price. It is a combination of excellence and access that makes Geneseo unique.”

“Geneseo is pretty clear on what our purpose is,” Bonfiglio said. “Because of this, the decisions that are made and the actions that are taken are taken in a way that reflects that mission and purpose. This, in my mind, leads to efficiency. It means staying true to who you are, concentrating on what you do best, not expanding into markets or areas where you're not strong or don't have experience.”

“The award is a two-edged sword,” President Christopher Dahl said. “On the one hand, we achieve extraordinary results in terms of quality education, which is why we are number one. The cost per student in producing quality education and quality outcomes, which places us very high in U.S. News & World rankings, shows that we are doing a good job with goal number one: life-enhancing liberal education.”

“On the other hand, this award also demonstrates that we are relatively underfunded,” Dahl said. “Cost per student is a measure of how much state and tuition pays to produce good results. The bad news is that this award is an indication that we aren't getting the resources that would allow us to do an even better job.”

“Imagine what we could do if we were funded just a little bit better for our focused liberal arts mission,” Dahl said.